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Topic: Seven Cheeses of Xmas (Read 364 times)

It's been so busy over Xmas that I only just remembered to post a pic of my Xmas Cheeses and they have almost all gone!

I decided in September to make a selection of cheese for the holidays, having got the bug last Xmas when my wife bought me one of those cheese-making kits with everything you need to make mozzarella & ricotta. I made them in January and was hooked – so I built myself a cheese press and got started on the hard stuff.

I really meant to photograph these as soon as I opened them but you know how it is – everyone tucked in and it wasn’t until today when we have (yet another) cheese & wine day that I remembered.

On the right of the photo you can see my Fourme d’Ambert – I made 5 of these on 26th Oct, probably too many a bit too soon as they are a little runny – thread here - http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,12164.0.html but quite delicious if I say so myself - my favourite cheese that I have made.

– then anticlockwise:

On the plate a Saint Maure that I made two of a couple of weeks ago, very nice, though the rind separates very easily A Manchego (Hispanico) made 23rd Nov but still very tasty, I have another I’m leaving to ripen further.An Emmental that I made as it’s my wife’s favourite and it actually is delicious and quite Emmental-like made on 7th Sept, another still maturing.A Lancashire, made on 28th Sept which tastes great but is a little ‘claggy’ – ie it sticks to the roof of your mouth a little.A Gouda made 15th Sept which, as a Gouda, is a complete failure but it is a really nice white, crumbly cheese – probably what I was trying for with the Lancashire!It’s my second Gouda failure but at least this one is a nice cheese.In the middle is a Neufchatel, there’s one with Garlic, one without.There’s also my Cantal (thread here http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,12071.msg92825.html#msg92825) which seemed unneccesary to open as there was so much cheese and I really want to age it out for at least 6 months.

With perfect timing, this year my wife bought me a vacuum sealer so hopefully I can age out the odd pieces a little and keep eating this batch for a while yet.

Thank you to everybody who answered my questions last year and to everyone else who make this such an interesting forum - Hope you all had as cheesy a holiday as we did and I wish you all an extremely cheesy 2014!